Elevator system



J. HUNT ELEVATOR SYSTEM Filed Dec. 30, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet l J nzotJZwzrz's Jfzmt 0W, MUM,

Oct. 10, 1933. J. HUNT ELEVATOR SYSTEM Filed Dec. 30, 1951 5Sheets-Sheet 2 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 J. HUNT ELEVATOR SYSTEM Filed Dec. 30,1931 Oct. 10, 1933.

J. HUNT ELEVATOR SYSTEM Oct. 10, 1933.

J m m W m m m Oct. 10, 1933. J. HUNT 1,930,239

ELEVATOR SYSTEM Filed Dec. 30, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 1 I I Ik 2 v 6 T.14 3 (a :71? :15

l 16 ajnwnior Patented Oct. 10, 1933 PATENT; OFFICE ELEVATOR SYSTEMJarvis Hunt,

Chicago, Ill. v 7 3.

Application December 30, 1931 Serial No. 583,843

9 Claims.

This invention relates to elevator systems for office and otherbuildings requiring continuous I and extensive elevator service betweenfloors.

The object of the invention is primarily to provide an elevator systemwherein a number of cars travel in a vertical loop or circuit ascendingin one shaft and descending in an adjacent shaft with crossovers at thetop and bottom, to the end that the entire system may be operated withinthe space occupied by two shafts.

The underlying purpose of such a system is essentially one of economy ofspace, thus doing away with the considerable amount now given over toelevator shafts in the modern oilice building which otherwise could beutilized as productive rental space.

Any practical system embodying the idea of a car travelling in avertical circuit must necessarily include the means and mechanism foraccomplishing the results, the chief of which would appear to be thetransfer of the car from one shaft to the other when it reaches the topor bottom of its vertical travel, and to do so in such manner that thetransverse movement becomes a continuation of the vertical movement.

'A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is adiagrammatic view in vertical section representing the system asinstalled in a building;

Figure 2 is a general view in vertical section through the portion ofthe building occupied by the system;

5 Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of the system showing the arrangementof the tracks and switches;

Figure 4 is a view in vertical section through a car and the adjacentportion of the shaft;

Figure 5 is a view in vertical section through a car as taken on line 55of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the car with positions of the drivingmechanism shown in section;

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail view of one of the hangers which supportthe elevator cab, as taken on line 7-7 of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is another detail view of the hanger as taken on line 8-8 ofFigure 7;

Figure 9 is a View of one of the hangers in end elevation;

Figure 10 is an enlarged detail view of one of the switch units;

Figure 11 is a view in vertical section taken on line 1111 of Figure 10;

Figure 12 is a detail view in horizontal section taken on line 1212 ofFigure '10;

Figure 13 is a view similar to Figure 10 showing the track sectors inreversed position; and

Figure 14 is a view showing the manner in 33.9 which an elevator cabnegotiates a change of direction. I

The elevator system herein shown is designed to be installed in anybuilding requiring elevator service, although no attempt has been madeto Q5 indicate the capacity of the building. In other words, a singleunit system of elevators has been shown, the number being increased asthe size of the building requires. Thus locating the space for theelevators, a single unit consists of two vertical shafts preferablylocated in close proximity, although they may be removed somewhat fromeach other. Moreover, the shafts may be arranged back to back or side byside, meaning that the up and down entrances from the floors face inopposite directions or in the same direction and adjacent each other.The latter arrangement is used inthe present disclosure.

And finally, the shafts are connected at top and .39 bottom bytransverse tracks or cross-overs, so that a car travels upwardly in oneshaft, shifts laterally on reaching the top, and thence downwardly inthe other shaft and back to the ascending shaft when it reaches thebottom. A car thus follows a circuituous path, always traveling'in thesame direction, so that it becomes possible to increase the number ofcars and thus maintain service at regular intervals, the number of carsin service depending on the trafiic that can be handled efiiciently byone unit. For obvious reasons, one kind of service would be'mainta'inedin one unit, since express and local stops could not very well be made,althoughit would be possible to provide an intermediate or shuntcrossover one-half the way up, so that certain cars would operatebetween the lower floors and others would handle trafiic from allfloors. Manifestly a system of block signals would have to be put intoeffect and the operation of the cars carried on according to schedule inorder to avoid confusion and delay. Generally speaking, the mode ofoperation of a car may be likened to a vertical cogway, that is, thecars operate between vertical tracks having teeth on one face after themanner 9 of a vertical rack, while the car carries pinions meshing withthe teeth and driven by a motor mounted atop the car and controlled bythe operator.

The cars or cabs are of the same type as are in 1.

common use in other present day systems, and the tracks are mounted inthe shafts in much the same manner as those which serve as guideways forthe cable hoist operated cars, although by preference there are fourtracks, one in each corner of each shaft which may be either divisionsof one large shaft or separate shafts, in either case being connected attheir upper and lower ends by transverse passages, as clearly shown inFigures 1, 2 and 3. For convenience, each pair of tracks along the outerand inner sides of the shafts are designated T and T respectively.

Each track is made up of structural steel members 1 of T-section, havinga base flange 1* and a relatively thick track flange 1 projecting atright angles from the base flange. On one side face of the track flange1 is a rack 2 having teeth of any suitable type, while the opposite sideface is plain and forms a track as will presently be seen. It will benoted particularly that the track members in the same shaft areinstalled so that their racks face in the same direction, namely, to theright in the right-hand shaft, and to the left in the left-hand shaft(Figure 3) which will be designated as the up and down shafts,respectively. 7

On the top of each car and near the corners are mounted the hangers 3,which embody the driven track engaging members consisting generally offour bearing standards 4 mounted at each of the four corners of the topstructure of the car, and rotative bearing blocks 5 journalled torevolve freely in bearing standards and about the axes of parallelcounter shafts 6 having their end portions journalled in the bearingblocks 5 and having pinions 7 mounted at their extreme ends which meshwith the racks 2 on the vertical'faces of the track members. Offsetradially from the pinion 7 is a roller 8 also carried by and journalledin each bearing block 5, the outer portions of which immediatelyadjacent thepinion and the roller being cast in the form of anoval-shaped casing or housing in which the pinion and roller areenclosed, and with the intermediate portion removed to receive the trackflange which is engaged on one side by the pinion, and on the 0ppositeface by the roller 8, as shown in Figures '7 and 8.

The car is preferably surmounted by a superstructure or frame 9 made upof I-beams arranged to provide a support or platform for the hangers 3,as well as the driving mechanism consisting of a motor 10 mounted at thecenter of the platform, a main drive shaft 11 forming extensions of thearmature shaft of the motor which, as arranged, extends crosswise of thecab and at right angles to the counter-shafts 6, 6.

The ends of the drive shaft 11 are journalled in bearing boxes 12, 12and have worms 13 mounted thereon which mesh with worm wheels 14, 14carried by the counter-shafts 6, 6 which also pass through the bearingboxes, but beneath and at right angles to the drive shaft. (Figures 5and 6.)

A control box 15 is also mounted on the top of each car and from whichlead the current supply conductors 16 to the rear edge and thencedownwardly along the back wall of the car to at current pick-up fixture17 having a series of short trolley poles 1'7 which contact with acurrent supply wire 18 mounted on the wall of the shaft and followingthe path of the cab throughout the entire circuit of the system. Cablesextend from the control box to the motor and also to the controllerlever in the cab by which the same is controlled by the operator.

same manner.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 3, it will be seen that the two groups ofvertical track members T 'I are mounted within two adjacent shafts or,as already stated, within one shaft enlarged or extended in onedirection suificiently to accommodate an up and down group of tracks,each group being connected with the other group by horizontal connectingtracks. Moreover, these horizontal connecting tracks join theirrespective vertical tracks through the medium of curved track sectors,although there are junction points where a system of switches has to beinserted in order to'permit the hangers to properly follow each other toand from the horizontal portions of the track system.

Perhaps it would be Well to discuss at this point the problem thatpresents itself in shifting the cars transversely after reaching the topor bottom of the shaft. Manifestly the cars must remain in an uprightposition at all times, so that provision must be made for changingdirections and also for allowing the cars to travel crosswise on thesame set or pair of horizontal tracks H. To illustrate (Figure 3) z thecar C shown at the upper end of the right-hand shaft is assumed to bemoving upwardly and about to be transferred laterally and to the leftinto the left-hand or down shaft. Now the vertical tracks T T in the upshaft are just reversed in the down shaft, that is, outermost track T inthe up shaft becomes or connects with the innermost track T in the downshaft, and vice versa.

Consequently, in order that the hanger traveling on the outer verticaltrack in the up shaft can shift to the inner vertical track in the downshaft, it has to travel over the same horizontal track H previouslytraveled by the hanger engaging the inner up tracks. This means thenthat after the leading hanger has traversed the curved track sector 15and reached the horizontal or cross-over track 1-1,. this curved sectormust be replaced by a straight sector 16 over which the trailing orfollowing hanger can pass to reach the portion of the horizontal trackbeyond the gap. Likewise, after the leading hanger has passed onto thecross-over track it travels on to the outer down track, but in so doingmust pass over the junction point with the inner down track, this beingaccomplished by another set of shiftable curved and straight tracksectors 15 and 16, but operating in reversed order so that the straightsector is in place until the leading hanger has passed over it andthenit is replaced by the curved sector so that the trailing hanger onreaching this same junction point will follow a downward curved path toreach the irmer down track T The same provision is made at the bottom ofthe shaft for transferring the cars from the down shaft over to the up?shaft, and operating in the Thus referring to Figure 3 once more, thecar C on reaching the bottom of the .down shaft, the hanger whichtrailed at the top cross-over now leads as the car passes onto the lowercross-over track H following a curved track sector 15 as before, whichis then lifted to the dotted line position and the straight sector 16 israised into position to bridge the gap for the trailing hanger.

Except for a reverse either in the order of operation or the position ofthe curved and straight track sectors at each of'thefour junctionpoints, the switches are quite the same and hence the description of onewill be applicable to all, bearing in mind that the units are grouped inpairs and operate as such, since the hangers are also in pairs.

Referring to Figures 10 to 14, the switch at the lower end of the downshaft is shown in detail. The end of the vertical track T terminates ashort distance above the horizontal track H there being gaps in bothtracks adjacent the point at which they would otherwise intersect.Designed to occupy the gaps are the shiftable track sectors 15 and 16,one being curved in a 90 arc and adapted to extend from the lower end ofthe vertical track T downwardly and toward the right (Figure 10) to theend of the portion of the horizontal track H beyond the gap, while astraight sector 16 serves to bridge the gap in the horizontal track HThese sectors are pivotally mounted at one end to abut the main tracksof which they form sections, being provided with stout pivot pins 16 16respectively, which extend laterally from the inner faces and fit intosockets 17 on the base flange 1 of the track 5. Considering each sectorindependently of the other, if the curved sector is in the positionshown in Figure 1c the right-hand hanger 3 of the cab will follow aroundthe curved sector 15 onto the horizontal track in the manner shown inFigure 14. The straight sector 16 in the meantime is dropped down at anangle, thereby permitting the hanger to pass through the gap thusprovided. After the leading hanger has passed onto the horizontal track,the following hanger on reaching the same now travels to the right, andin order to pass the junction of the right-hand vertical track with thehorizontal track, the curved sector 15 elevated and the straight sector15 brought up into the line of the horizontal track as shown in Figure13, the shifting of the two sectors being accomplished simultaneously bythe following mechanism:

In the first place, the two sectors 15 and 16 are connected togetheradjacent their free ends by a link 18, the connection between the linkand the curved sector being through the medium of a pin and slotconnection at 19 in order to ob tain the desired freedom of movement.Secondly, a plate 2c is mounted immediately behind the track members attheir point of junction with a small space between, and on this plate ismounted a solenoid 21 positioned above the curved sector so that itsplunger 21 can be connected therewith by means of a short link 22. Eachsolenoid would necessarily include an operating circuit which, in itssimplest form would have a controlling switch, so that the sectors wouldbe shifted to permit the hangers to pass over a junction point withoutchanging direct ons or to pass around the junction point with a changeof direction.

Manifestly, the solenoid is quite inadequate to hold the sectors inplace, and especially to sup port any appreciable weight, so auxiliarylocking devices are applied, which function just before and after ashift of one of the sectors has taken place.

Thus as shown in Figures 11 and 12, another solenoid 23 is mounted onthe plate 20 immediately behind the point of interlocking of the freeends of the shiftable sectors with the horizontal track H This solenoidis so mounted that its plunger 23 shifts endwse toward and from thetrack rather than in the plane of the track as in the case of the sectorshifting solenoid 23.. On the end of its plunger is a plate 24 carryinga locking pin 25 projecting into the path of the track sectors andadapted to engage registering sockets or holes 15 and 16 respectively,in their inner faces and adjacent their ends. Thus each auxiliarysolenoid 23 would be controlled to act just before the switchingoperation takes place, first, to release the active sector 30, allowingit to shift and the other to take its place, and then look the latter inplace.

As shown in Figures 11 and 12, the track sectors 15 and 16 are somewhatreduced in width to accommodate the operating linkage and other parts.Moreover, the free ends of the sectors and the adjacent end of thehorizontal track are slot- The previous reference to a vert?cal cograilway indicates the manner in which the cars are propelled along thetracks, the traction being provided by the pinions meshing with theracks backed by the rollers bearing against the oppostc side of thetrack flange. While moving vertically, it follows that the hangersassume a normal position with the pinions and rollers horizontallyopposing each other. However, on reaching a curved sector, it isnecessary for the bearing blocks 5 to revolve in the bearing standard 4of each hanger so that the curve can be negotiated, and finally when thecar is traversing the horizontal tracks at the top or bottom, thepinions or rollers, as the case may be, are arranged vertically, oneabove the other, as the car is propelled as though suspended from anoverhead track, as fact it is.

As before stated, the operation of the elevators and the throwing of theswitches would all be accomplished by suitably designed electricalmeans, controlling the operation manually or automatically as theconditions demand, all of which could be readily worked out by oneskilled in the art. Similarly the results herein disclosed may beattained in other ways, and hence the '1 present invention is notlimited to any particular mechanism for accomplishing the results, butgenerally to a system of elevator control which permits theaccomplishment of the advantages herein indicated as especiallynoteworthy.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an elevator system, the combination of vertical shafts connectedby transverse passages, parallel tracks making a complete circuit ofsaid shafts and passages, cars adapted to be propelled along saidtracks, interchangeable straight and curved track sectors located at thejunction points of the vertical and horizontal portions of said tracksand adapted to be shifted before and after the passage of a car oversaid junction point and means for locking the active sector in itstrack.

2. In an elevator system, the combination of vertical shafts connectedby transverse passages, a continuous trackway making a complete circuitof said shafts and passages, cars adapted to be propelled along saidtrackway, said trackway comprising a group of tracks paralleling eachother throughout the circuit, pairs of interchangeable straight andcurved track sectors located at the junction points of said tracks, lid

means for shifting said track sectors before and after the passage of acar over each junction point, and coacting locking means operative'tolock the active sector in its track.

3. In an elevator system, the combination of vertical shafts connectedby transverse passages, a continuous trackway making a complete circuitof said shafts and passages, cars adaptedto bepropelled along saidtrackway, said trackway comprising a group of tracks paralleling eachother throughout the circuit, pairs of interchangeable straight andcurved track sectors located at the junction points of the vertical andhorizontal sections of said tracks and adapted to be shifted immediatelybefore and after the passage of a car over each junction point, andcoacting looking means operative before and after each shifting movementto lock and release the active sector in its track.

4. In an elevator system, the combination of vertical shafts connectedby transverse passages, a continuous trackway making a complete circuitof said shafts and passages, cars adapted to be propelled along saidtrackway, saidtrackwaycomprising a group of tracks parallaling eachother throughout the circuit, certain of the tracks intersecting eachother at the junction of the vertical and horizontal trackways andmerging into single horizontal tracks, and sets of curved and straighttrack sectors adapted to be interchangeably shifted into the singletrack at said points of intersection to permit said cars to pass thejunction points.

5. In an elevator system, the combination of vertical shafts connectedby transverse passages, a series of connected tracks making a completecircuit of said shafts and passages provided with hangers and drivinggear members, engaging teeth on said tracks whereby said cars arepropelled along the same, said tracks meeting in curved sectors andcertain of said vertical tracks intersecting and merging with certain ofthe horizontal tracks, and straight track sectors adapted to replacesaid curved sectors at predetermined junction points to permit the carsto pass the same.

6. In an elevator system, the combination of a vertical shaft, connectedup and down tracks in said shaft, cars adapted to be propelledvertically and horizontally along said tracks and having hangerssupporting driven pinions meshing with rack teeth on said tracks,certain of the same having curved sectors at the junction of theirvertical and horizontal sections, with certain of the same merging intosingle horizontal tracks, and sets of straight track sectors adapted tobe shifted to replace said curved sectors at said points of intersectionto permit said hangers to pass over or around said points ofintersection.

7. In an elevator system, the combination of a vertical shaft, connectedup and down toothed tracks in said shaft making a complete circuit,

cars adapted to be propelled along said tracks,

and comprising hangers pivotally mounted on said cars and having drivenpinions and idler rollers engaging said tracks, the vertical sections ofeach track meeting its horizontal section in a curved track sector,certain of said vertical tracks merging into single horizontal tracks,and sets of interconnected track sectors adapted to be interchangeablythrown at said points of intersection to permit the hangers to pass overor change directions at said points of intersection.

8. In an elevator system, the combination of a continuous trackwaymaking a complete circuit of the vertical space to be served by saidsystem and comprising connected vertical and horizontal tracksparalleling each other throughout the circuit, cars adapted to bepropelled along said tracirway, interchangeable track sectors located atthe junctions of the vertical and horizontal tracks, and means forshifting said track sectors to permit the passage of said cars over thejunction 7 points.

9. In an elevator system, the combination of a vertical shaft, acontinuous trackway making a complete circuit of said shaft andcomprising a group of tracks paralleling each other throughout thecircuit, cars adapted to be propelled along said tracks, sets ofinterchangeable straight and curved track sectors located at thejunction points in said trackway, and means for shifting said tracksections to effect the passage of a car '1 over the junction points andmeans for locking the active sectors in the track.

JARVIS HUNT.

